1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to safety electrical outlets and, in particular, relates to cube taps having a protective plate member.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The increasing concern for child safety has let to a recent safety requirement for cube taps of electrical cords. The requirement is that all, or all but one, of the pairs of prong-receiving slots of the cube taps be shielded or protected by a cover plate and the like. A number of devices have been devised for satisfying this requirement including snap-on devices which are attached to the cord or the body of the cube tap. A development which has recently been marketed comprises a plate that is pivotally mounted on the body of the cube tap and that has a pair of parallel through openings to register with the prong-receiving slots of the cube tap. This plate must be rotated by the user to move its through openings into and out of registration with the slots of the cube taps. While this approach does provide protection of the cube tap slots, its successful application requires that the user rotate the plate to move its through openings out of registration with the cube tap slots when disconnecting a cord or appliance from the cube tap. Human fallacy insures that even with this approach, the unused slots of the cube taps will not always be protected. Connectors similar in construction are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 1,938,039 and 3,663,924. Similar rotatable protective plate members have been provided on the electrical outlets for wall receptacles such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,507,654; 2,559,151; 1,159,207 and 2,119,428.
The aforedescribed approaches have employed relatively complex construction with a multitude of components. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a simple construction having a minimum of component parts that can be readily manufactured and assembled.